It’s my last day here at the CO State BLM Office working with my mentor Carol Dawson. I’ve been here two weeks shy of a year, and what a year it’s been.

When I first approached Carol, basically asking her to hire me, there were several things I had hoped to gain from working here. First, I wanted to be a part of the rare species monitoring program she has established in the state, and I’ve done just that. It’s been wonderful to be able to see the amount of data on some of the plots that we have here; to be able to confidently say whether a population is stable, increasing, or decreasing. Working with a species for only one summer, or one year, doesn’t typically allow for these trends to be seen. So, it’s been encouraging to continue studies that were established, sometimes, more than 10 years ago. I’ve not only continued many long-term demographic studies, I’ve also modified monitoring plots in their infancy, and established new plots altogether. I am much more confident in my ability to develop a species specific monitoring study and protocols that will provide measurable, meaningful, and statistically sound results. It’s been fun putting the BLM technical reference for monitoring plant populations into practice. I found I not only really enjoy the field work involved in monitoring, the physical plot establishment and data collection, but I also enjoy the number crunching, ensuring enough of the plot is being monitored in order to detect a certain percent change over time with a specified power. It’s critical for reliable data. The second goal of mine before starting work was to gain experience writing technical reports. Again, I have done just that. I have written species reports for Penstemon grahamii and Penstemon scariosus var, albifluvis, and an annual summary of our rare species monitoring.

So, where am I going from here? While I had originally hoped to spend another summer here, I will be moving to the Tri-cities in Washington instead.  (It’s been my choice to leave, I think Carol would have let me stay). Over the last two years I’ve learned how important relationships are to me and my happiness, and while I have built many truly wonderful relationships here and would love to spend another summer working with these species and developing a monitoring study for a new one, I have chosen to move in order to be with my boyfriend. Fierce, independent ladies gag here. In all seriousness, we’ve been long distance for two years and I’m happy with my decision. However, it does mean I need a new job. I do have a part-time tutoring job lined up already, but am unsure exactly where my ‘career’ is heading. I took the GRE this summer, and am keeping grad school as an option, but don’t know exactly what I would want to study.

Overall, I loved learning about each of the rare species we monitor here in CO, working with personnel in our office and field offices across the state, working with the BLM’s partners, organizing years’ worth of data, compiling reports, mapping possible new plot locations, and more. I feel lucky to have explored such a large part of this state and to work with such an amazing mentor, as well as co-intern, Nathan. This internship has been an invaluable experience. Participating in the CLM program for two years has been an extremely worthwhile learning experience. I hope I have been as helpful to each of my mentors as they have been to me.

Colleen Sullivan

Below are some pictures of my experiences in CO, both work and play

Eutrema penlandii monitoring

Top of Mt. Quandry. Hiking ’14ers’ is very popular in CO, thus I had to do at least one.

Another ’14er’. Mt Bierstadt

Denver Botanic Gardens

From an SOS collection site

Penstemon grahamii

Near a monitoring site. P. grahamii I think

While at another monitoring site

Near Astragalus debequaeus monitoring site

View of Pikes Peak at Garden of the Gods

On the hike to Hanging Lake, outside Glenwood Springs CO

Hanging Lake, outside Glenwood Springs CO

Devil’s Backbone, outside of Loveland CO

Snow day

Rocky Mountain National Park

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

View while working outside of Montrose CO (I think)

Conundrum Hotsprings, outside of Aspen CO

Hi everybody, I’m a bit over due for a blog. This is my eleventh month at the CO state BLM office! It is also my last full month on the job. So, what have I been up to?

Since returning from all the holiday fun my most recent task has been to inventory all the information known about the CO threatened species Sclerocactus glaucus. This is one of the species we monitor here at the state office, along with much help from the field offices. I went on a river trip surveying for additional populations over the summer, which I believe I talked about in an earlier blog.

The inventorying is going well so far, there is a lot of data to sort through from various sources. I’m trying to get a clear picture of how many plants we know exist, where they’re at, an idea of occupied habitat, and what portion of the population has any protections. This is all in an effort to get this species delisted.  There are a lot more plants on the landscape than previously thought and our monitoring efforts have shown density is higher than previously believed.

The largest problem I’m facing is how to deal with dated occurrence reports and geographic data without survey dates or population estimates. Luckily we do have a lot of reliable, accurate, and recent data, but tweezing out information from less recent, less reliable records has been difficult.

I also recently finished an annual report of our rare species monitoring for 2015. This is more or less just for our office here, but information for certain species will also be sent to field offices and partners. It’s important to summarize our monitoring activities and results from year to year, and especially helpful to new interns becoming familiar with these species and our monitoring efforts.

As I said, this is my last full month working with Carol here in Colorado. I have four more weeks, and will leave in mid-February, but it’s strange to think it’s all coming to an end. In my next, my last, blog I’ll share some parting thoughts and future plans!

Here are two pictures of a plant I really like, and saw for the first time over the summer.

Caulanthus crassicaulis

Caulanthus crassicaulis

Until next time,

Colleen Sullivan

Warning: This is a long one

Hey ho, it’s already been eight months here in wonderful Colorado. So what have I been up to since the last post? Let’s think.

At the end of August I went on a river survey for Sclerocactus glaucus, Colorado’s Hookless Cactus, on the Gunnison River with the Montrose field office. That was three days and two nights of beauty, fun, and discovery. S. glaucus is endemic to Colorado and is currently listed as threatened. Our aim for the river trip was to find and map new populations. The more plants we know exist, the closer we are to delisting this species. This species actually has an interesting taxonomic history. Originally known as Unita Basin Hookless Cactus, S. glaucus has recently been divided into three distinct species. Based on phylogenetic studies, common garden experiments, and morphological characteristics, what was once considered one species is now S. glaucus (Colorado Hookless Cactus), S. brevispinus (Pariette Cactus), and S. wetlandicus (Unita basin Hookless Cactus). After this distinction all three species were recognized by the USFWS and each remain listed as threatened with the same protections as before the split.

The river trip proved fruitful. We found several new populations of considerable size. S. glaucus is starting to prove more abundant than previously thought. These surveys in combination with our five long-term demographic monitoring plots are crucial in working towards delisting. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures on this trip. The Gunnison River traverses through some truly beautiful landscapes, including Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We surveyed farther north on the Gunnison, obviously not in the park, however, the whole trip was utterly enjoyable. I was happy to be invited and glad we were able to find several additional populations.

Early in September we returned to Montrose to monitor another listed species, Eriogonum pelinophilum (Clay-loving Buckwheat). This species is listed as Endangered, and also endemic to Colorado, specifically the Montrose and Delta area. It exhibits edaphic endemism growing only on the Mancos shale soils in the area. We have five monitoring plots across the species range, three of which were established in 2012, two in 2013. Despite the short length of the study, trends are visible. Longer data sets will reveal more accurate trends, however, at present populations are stable or increasing in number. This trend holds true for total population number and number of reproductive individuals.

Our plot’s sampling objectives range from detecting a 5% change in population density to 20% with 90% to 99% confidence. In total, when compared to the year the plots were established, four of the plots show a significant increase in mean population density and one shows no significant difference. These results are promising, considering the various levels of protection and exposure to threats at each site.

Another project I’ve been working on is creating estimated total population graphs with 95% confidence intervals for each monitoring plot for every species we monitor. Below is one said graph for E. pelinophilum.  When only monitoring a portion of a population, as we do for each monitoring plot, the gathered data is meant to be used to make inferences of the whole population (the whole monitoring plot). Thus, I thought it would be advantages to calculate the estimated total number of individuals, stems, and so on at each of our plots.

Estimated population total for Eriogonum pelinophilum individuals at all study sites with 95% confidence intervals

I’ve also been working hard to organize all of our monitoring data. This is something the interns before me started by compiling data from every year for each species into one excel workbook, instead of having one workbook for each year for each plot for each species. I’ve been checking all our calculations, creating the est. population total graphs, reformatting all the excel workbooks into one format for the sake of consistency, and reorganizing how raw data is entered into the workbooks in order to make analysis easier. I’m happy I’ve been able to accomplish these tasks. Having different interns every so often can make consistency in data organization difficult, especially when only using excel. So, I have also written a guide in each species’ workbook for how to add and analyze the data for future interns/employees. I’ve also been writing explanations for some of the formatted calculations within every workbook. It can also be difficult to try and decipher how someone before you analyzed data, especially when there are no clear explanations or directions. While this work is not as exciting as field work, I do still enjoy it. There is something I find very rewarding in being organized. Perhaps that sounds crazy. I enjoy the efficiency that stems from organization.

In mid-September I was able to join our fisheries biologist for a day of educational outreach up near Kremmling, CO. This was a lot of fun! Together with Carol, and several other people from the National Operations Center and Kremmling field office, we met a 7^th grade class at a private ranch (who allows this activity each year) to learn about stream health and the scientific method. We broke into groups and each performed a series of experiments in the stream in order to measure stream velocity at various depths, on the surface, and around a curve. We also talked about water quality, stream structures, and a little about stream vegetation. Most of the kids in my group were interested and participated in the activities, it was great to see. We stressed the scientific method during each experiment, and it was fun to see what their hypotheses were and why. Two highlights of the trip for the kids were the water proof paper their worksheets were printed on, as well as feeding time for the fish stocked in this stream. As I said, we were on a private ranch, and the owner has the stream stocked and fed. Several kids were able to identify the fish. It was impressive, given my lack of knowledge in this area.

At the end of September we spent a day monitoring Penstemon debilis up on the face of the Roan Plateau. This species is, again, a Colorado endemic only existing on the Roan Plateau. More specifically, it resides on white shale talus slopes, making for steep and erodible conditions. Our plot was established in 2004 and has been monitored yearly (excluding 2006) since. Given the nature of this environment, we count stems instead of individuals. The stems grow from underneath the talus, rising through the rocks, making it very difficult to determine individuals without displacing the rocks and destroying the habitat. Compared to 2004, 2015 showed no significant change in stem number. However, statistically significant changes have been noted over the span of the study.  Most of the plants had already gone to seed, but we did see a few still in flower. Penstemons are so beautiful.

Estimated population of P. debilis stems at Anvil Points with 95% confidence intervals

View from P. debilis monitoring site. Heck, there could be some P. debilis over there, but it’s too steep to find out

Last, but not least, we have been making some seed collections. This has not been our primary objective, but together with the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens we have been able to make eight collections this year. Carol and I just made two collections last week, Frasera speciosa and Carex uticulata. They were opportunistic. We set out to check on another population of Phacelia but were unable to access that exact location. So, after some brief scouting we found these two species still with plenty of seed. It is great having Carol.  I’m not sure I would have been able to make the identification of the Frasera since it was all in seed with no flowers.

Sorry I don’t have more pictures of the plants I’ve been working with or their locations. I tend to forget to take pictures when I’m out in the field.

I have also been exploring on my free time. My parents and brother recently visited. We saw a fair amount of Colorado while they were here, spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park. Needless to say, they loved it all. You just can’t get views like these in Illinois. Then my sister and our good friend came for a visit. We enjoyed a mix of nature and city exploration. We explored the Botanic Gardens, some, went to an amazing drag show, and enjoyed some live music. I also took them to Rocky Mountain National Park, and one of my favorite restaurants in Golden. They were very sad to leave. I also flew up to Seattle to meet up with my boyfriend. We explored the Olympic peninsula and Olympic National Park. Wow! We were able to enjoy the coast and the mountains all in one day. That whole area is so beautiful, I could get used to the Pacific Northwest. In early October he flew out here and we hiked Conundrum Hotsprings near Aspen, CO. This is a very popular trail, but luckily not busy when we went. The combination of going later in the season and backpacking in on Sunday to Monday meant there were only about 20 people up there in total, maybe less. Starring up at the stars in the warmth of the spring with the chill of fall in the air was unbelievable. I also got to fly home to be there for a surprise celebration for my two very close friends on the night the one proposed to the other. I can’t believe more of my friends are getting married, but I’m so happy I could be there to surprise her! I also most recently got to enjoy the start of the Halloween season here in Denver by going to the Zombie Crawl in Denver, and making it out in time at one of Denver’s haunted escape rooms. I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of fall as well as winter here in Colorado.

My brother and I at the top of Mt. Quandry

My brother above Emerald Lake, RMNP

My sister and I at Dream Lake, RMNP

My boyfriend on the Olympic Peninsula coast, WA

Olympic mountains, Olympic National Park, WA

Conundrum Hotsprings, Aspen, CO

The happy couple and me

Denver Zombie Crawl

All my best,

Colleen Sullivan

CO BLM State Office

My fifth month at the Colorado State BLM Office has come and gone, and I am now entering into my sixth. Luckily, I have been extended for another five months here in wonderful Colorado, which will bring me into the new year.

The last two months have been packed with a variety of species and a variety of work. Early in July we traveled down to Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley in southern central Colorado to meet with Joel Humphries and his AIM crew. It was very interesting to see his crew working through the AIM protocol in the field. I don’t have experience with AIM, so I was glad to gain a better understanding of its protocol. It was also helpful to talk with people who have been doing AIM for a season or more and get their opinions on the protocol as a whole. It seems like a good way to standardize data collection across the BLM landscape in order to get a complete picture of its health.

A little later in July we went up to Meeker, CO in Rio Blanco County to monitor Physaria congesta and P. obcordata. They’re two rare mustard species that grow in shale barrens, primarily on hill slopes. We monitored two P. congesta sites and two P. obcordata sites. Luckily we were able to install a new P. obcordata monitoring plot this year, since we previously had only one.  We have not seen a significant change in population numbers at either P. congesta locations, but have seen a significant increase in population number at our one P. obcordata site this year, as compared to 2011 when the study started.

The last week in July was full of Eutrema penlandii. I had been working on putting together a picture guide for the alpine species in the Mosquito Range (where this species exists) up until this trip. Phil, a previous intern here, started the guide and I finished adding the photos and brief descriptions. I was surprised and happy to learn that several of the other people on this trip found the guide extremely helpful, and I’ve recently finished adding the new plants we found this year to the guide.

E. penlandii is such a fun plant to monitor. E. penlandii is a rare alpine mustard that grows in micro-habitats that stay consistently wet at 11,800’ – 13,280’. This species is extremely inconspicuous, growing 3-8cm high, among graminoid wetland vegetation on Colorado’s Mosquito Range. We currently have five E. penlandii monitoring sites, in some of the most beautiful alpine habitat, and two modified-whittaker plots. Our modified-whittaker plots are long term vegetation studies that measure biodiversity in the face of climate change. This was the second year for both of these plots, and we are starting to get a clear picture of exactly what species exist there. It will be interesting to see how these alpine habitats change over the years as the global climate changes.

This is one of the best species to monitor if for no other reason than its habitat. The alpine ecosystem, and the views that come along with it, are some of the most beautiful and fascinating. And on top of the plethora of views and plant species unique to this ecosystem, the trek up to our sites are fun. We don’t have many monitoring sites that require much of a hike, for a variety of reasons, however most of our E. penlandii sites require it. I found it refreshing to hike 20-30 minutes to a site, to get our heart rates up as we marched up the mountains, and take in the mountain air. We were also very lucky this year to have good weather; it can be quite windy, rainy, and cold above the tree line. We encountered strong chilly winds only one day, and a slight drizzle as we wound up our monitoring on another.

View from parking spot up to Horseshoe Cirque

On the way up to Mosquito Pass

Hiking to Cameron Amphitheater plot

Working in Cameron Amphitheater

Plants in Cameron Amphitheater

Primula parryi

Working on Hoosier Ridge

Last week we worked on Phacelia formosula, a short-lived or biennial species in the Hydrophyllaceae that only occurs in the North Park region of Colorado. We spent a few days monitoring the three sites already established and setting up and reading two new ones. This is the first short-lived species I have monitored here in CO, which changes the sampling design of our plots. So it was great to see how and why we monitor this species differently than our other longer-lived perennial species.

We most often use long term permanent transects within a macroplot where we measure plant density in order to understand population trends. However, since this species is short lived there is not a strong relationship between plant location in one year to plant location in the next, making permanent transects less effective at measuring population trend. So, for our plots we use permanent transects within the macroplot, and temporary quadrats within each transect.  Also, instead of measuring density, we measure the frequency of P. formosula, because frequency is more sensitive to changes in spatial arrangement. For example, one of our macroplots is 20m by 60m with 12 permanent 1m by 20m transects at every 5m, staring at 4m, along the baseline. Then within each transect we randomly place ten 1m² quadrats every year where we measure frequency (is the plant present or absent). For this plot there are a total of 1200 possible quadrat locations, and we measure 120 each year.

Only one of our three sites, California Gulch, has shown a significant decrease in plant frequency this year compared to 2013. This was an interesting year for a few of our sites. California Gulch was interesting because it had so few plants, and another of our sites had few, if any, rosettes. Nearly all the plants at that location were reproductive, despite size. Next year it will be interesting to see how/if this changes.

And today I leave to do Scelrocactus glaucus surveying on the Gunnison River. I have yet to do a river trip, so I am really looking forward to this week. Floating down the river will be beautiful, and S. glaucus is a beautiful cactus as well.

On a less professional note, the last few months of my life have also been very interesting. I recently went rafting for the first time. I was afforded the amazing opportunity to raft down the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge with some fantastic friends. It was an amazing experience, and one I’ve wanted to do for a while now. When in Rome, right? It was breathtaking to see the gorge from the bottom. This was my first time visiting, and I was in awe. Most people get to see the 1000ft drop into the gorge from the infamous bridge, so it was interesting to see the 1000ft rise to the bridge from the water. Obviously the actual rafting was a thrill as well. We went through some class 3 and a class 4 rapid, which was perfect for my first time rafting. We got turned around at one point, and thrashed around a fair amount, but no one fell out. The whole trip was a huge success.

Earlier this month I also flew home to IL to stand up in two of my very close friends’ wedding. It was the first time I’ve stood up in a wedding, and my first wedding since I was 14, so it was quite the experience. It was a huge honor and the wedding day was a lot of fun. I can’t believe we’re at the age where people are getting married! Last month I also went to Portland to visit my boyfriend, where we hiked the most beautiful trail in the Columbia River Gorge. It’s such a lush environment with the amount of rain they receive; such a beautiful contrast to the drier parts here in CO. I’ve also been exploring CO on my weekends. Most recently I went up to Mohawk Lake near Breckenridge. It’s quite the incline, with a bit of bush whacking near the end after Lower Mohawk Lake, but that’s because we lost the trail. This time to the alpine I knew most of the plant species and had a blast pointing them out to my boyfriend. My parents and brother are also planning a visit in early September for a week, so I’m very much looking forward to that, and my sister and close friend will visit mid-September. I think my family gets just as much enjoyment out of my moving around as I do.

Most of the wedding party

Mohawk Lake, CO

Trail up to Mohawk Lake

Tunnels Falls, Oregon

Until next time,

Colleen Sullivan

CO State BLM Office

Blog 3

Oy, my third month here at the CO state office has come and gone. So what have I been up to? May has been full of Penstemon grahamii, Physaria congesta, and preparing for the CLM training in Chicago.

First, Penstemon grahamii. I talked about this species in my first post, and we have finally been out for monitoring. And we got to see it in flower! The actual monitoring was easy enough. This plot and the monitoring protocols have been established since 2005, so it was as easy as knowing what to look for and what to record. So, what did we find?

This population took a hard hit last year, with only 16 rosettes remaining. The species is rare as it is, and this plot is the largest population we have found to date on CO lands. We scouted some potential habitat in early May and found no new populations. All we did find was a cluster of 6 or so plants. So, for the time being, we have to make do with what we’ve got.  This year, we found 7 new plants and a total of 67 rosettes; which is statistically a significant increase. However, when compared to 2005, it is a significant decrease. By significant I mean we are 90% sure of detecting a 20% difference in mean population density. Here is a table of our data since 2005.

Overall, this is important information if for no other reason than the fact that the USFWS is currently being sued for deciding no to this, and another, species last year.

I still don’t know how to make this bigger.

I was also able to talk about this species at the Chicago training last week. I hope people found it interesting to hear a little about what we’re working on here, and see how the monitoring training they received in another class can be put to use. However, we presented right after lunch each day and had a hard time gauging audience interest. I only spotted one person sleeping, so that’s good right?

My second month here at the CO state office is coming to a close. Field season has officially started. Last week we went out near Rifle CO to monitor several plots of Astragalus debequaeus, Bebeque milkvetch. This plant is a rare endemic of Colorado, and is found on fine textured, seleniferous, saline soils of barren outcrops of dark clay intermixed with sandstone. A. debequaeus inhabits areas dominated by pinyon-Juniper woodlands, but is found in areas generally devoid of vegetation. I’m going to go into a lengthy description of our monitoring.

Last Monday we monitored one macroplot known as North Webster Mesa, one seedling plot, and five circular plots for presence and life stage. There are two more macroplots closer to Grand Junction that we hope to monitor later this week, weather allowing. The N. Webster Mesa plot was established in 2010 with a total of 613 plants recorded in 12 transects. This year we recorded 55 plants in those transects, none of which were reproductive. In 2014, 19 tags were placed within this plot by groups of seedlings or individual juveniles. This year only 2 tags had living plants and only one with the remnant of a plant. We set out to detect a 10% difference in mean population density between years with 90% certainty, while accepting a 10% chance of making a false-change error. So, this is a significant decrease. We have a few ideas as to why we are seeing this decrease. We think the last few years of drought have played a large roll in this decline. A. debequaeus at this site does inhabit a fairly unstable, highly erodible, steep slope devoid of much vegetation where several cm deep cracks in the soil are common. So, we have also hypothesized that seeds might be unable to establish in these cracks where they fall deeper than the first few cm from the soil surface. We’ve also considered the impact we might be having on the plot while monitoring. Given the erodible nature of the soil, it’s possible our walking through the plot may effect plant growth. This site is only visited once a year, is in a low to no traffic area, and researchers are always mindful of where they step while monitoring.  But it is a possibility that human traffic is contributing to the observed decline. It has been suggested that next year we GPS a few individuals outside but near this plot where we do not walk to observe, in order to compare life history data. Overall, individuals at this site are fewer and less robust than those at the other two macroplots that we’ll measure later this week. My boss believes that the microclimate at the other sites is more favorable due to slightly higher vegetation cover, which may hold moisture better.

Photograph: Peter Gordon. A. debequaeus in flower and fruit. Picture taken near Atwell Gulch, CO.

I did not take any pictures of the species, so this one is from a former intern at one of the other macroplot locations closer to Grand Junction.

The seedling plot was originally established in 2003 to shed light on seedling and juvenile mortality and life history. This site is also a dry-land canyon with steep slopes. This year had the fewest individuals recorded, although there has been variation in the past.

Total Numbers of Astragalus debequaeus in the Seedling Plot from 2003-2015

I don’t know how to make this bigger, sorry.

The circular plots are a few meters from the seedling plot and a few meters from one another. Given the terrain of this site, circular plots were more plausible than one large macroplot. Established in 2004, plant number and age class are recorded within these plots. Plant numbers have varied fairly significantly in each plot over the course of this study. We have also compared total plant number to average annual precipitation using a linear regression. There does not seem to be a strong correlation, but precipitation data is from the Rifle CO weather data location. Location-specific precipitation data would allow for a more accurate analysis, and we are considering purchasing soil moisture readers for instillation at these, or other, sites.

Another exciting part of this past month was the National Native Seed Conference I was able to attend in Santa Fe, NM. This was my alternative training opportunity since I attended the CLM training in Chicago last year. There were so many great talks at this conference, and too many to attend. I want to highlight one of my favorite presentations; one that I’m sure was a favorite of many people.  Spatial climate trends in western vegetation: Implications for restoration by Healy Hamilton discussed the current work by Dr. Hamilton and several others at NatureServe. They have been analyzing climate trends of the past decades in order to predict geographic and seasonal shifts of ecosystems across the west, identify seed sources of plants already adapted to climatic changes, identify populations already greatly affected by climate change, identify populations that are stable and may act as refugia, and identify where certain ecosystems are likely to be lost, remain stable, or expand. On top of all of this, they are also putting together a user-friendly webpage where this information can be accessed. Not only is this very interesting, critical, and highly useful research, the actual presentation was conducted really well. I’m looking forward to the completion of their work and the launch of the webpage.

There were several people from various other countries in attendance too. Dr. Stuart W. Smith gave an interesting presentation on his work restoring peatlands in the Falkland Islands, Laura Victoria Perez-Martinez talked about the work of she and her colleagues at the Bogota Botanical Gardens in Bogota, Colombia where they have created the county’s first native seed bank for the conservation of the tropical high mountain ecosystem, and Kay Evelina Lewis-Jones, an ethnobotanist from the University of Kent, UK, held an open forum  to discuss the future of native seeds as we, the attendees, saw it. These are the only four talks which I attended, but there were many more I was unable to attend (since I can’t be in two places at once) that looked just as interesting and I’m sure were just as educational. Overall, the conference was a great experience where I learned a lot more about the various kinds of work and research going on in the native seed world, and I was able to meet several prominent people in the native seed world.

Month 2 has been fun and educational. I’m looking forward to the month ahead.

Colleen Sullivan

This is my second CLM internship. Last year I worked in Vale, Oregon, and this year I have been given the opportunity to work with Carol Dawson at the Colorado State BLM office. I’m so glad and thankful to be here. I’m really looking forward to my work, and love living in Colorado. This year I will do some Seeds of Success collections, but most of my work will entail rare plant monitoring. So this month I have been familiarizing myself with several of the rare species we will be monitoring over the summer. I’ve become most familiar with a few Penstemon species, P. grahamii, P. scariosus var. albifluvis, P. gibbsenii, and P. debilis.

The BLM has been monitoring P. grahamii yearly since 2005, excluding 2006-2008 and 2013, using a permanent macroplot and restricted random sampling method. Last year the study population had been decimated, with only 16 individuals remaining, as compared to 148 in 2012. The severe decline is presumed to be from a herd of sheep mistakenly allowed to graze in the area. This year we will return to the location in order to evaluate whether or not continued monitoring is possible. Most likely, a new, larger population will need to be located and a new study site set up. The other CLM intern here, Nathan, has been working on new population locations for us to consider. P. grahamii is one of the species for which I have been preparing a status report.

A photo of P. grahamii I found online-I’m hoping to see it in flower this season, but is unlikely

The other species for which I’ve been preparing a status report is Penstemon scariosus var. albifluvis. This species shares a very similar habitat to P. grahamii. Both are endemic to the oil shale barrens of the geologic Green River Formation in the Uinta Basin, and face the threat of oil and gas exploration. The CO BLM has yet to initiate any demographic monitoring study for this species. We plan on implementing such a study this summer.
P. gibbensii and P. debilis are two more rare Colorado species and congeners of P. grahamii and P. scariosus var. albifluvis. There is extremely limited genetic information about P. grahamii and P. scariosus var. albifluvis, so I’ve been reading through the available information on P. gibbensii and P. debilis in order to gain a better understanding of their genetic structure, which may shed light on the possible genetic structures of P. grahamii and P. scariosus var. albifluvis.

A photo of P. scariosus var. albifluvis I found online-I’m looking forward to posting my own pictures soon.

I have also been brushing up on my statistic skills. I won’t really be analyzing any data until after the field season, but I’ve been making some box plots and normal probability plots with the data from previous years of Penstemon grahamii monitoring. This allows me to see if the collected data follows a normal distribution, and thus how accurate statistical estimates are.

Sorry this is such a boring post. Until next time!

Colleen Sullivan

Today is my last day at my internship. Five months at the BLM in Vale, Oregon has allowed me to grow immensely, professionally and personally. With this internship I aimed to strengthen my plant identification skills, become more familiar with the workings of a government agency, learn more about plant and soil interactions, and gain field monitoring and surveying experience. I am satisfied that my experience these past five months has allowed me to reach each of those goals.

I have been exposed to countless new plant species and quite a few animal species as well. I am now able to correctly identify numerous plants in the field, and confidently key forbs, rushes, sedges, and grasses to species using a dichotomous key. I will admit, rushes, sedges, and grasses take a bit more time and effort than forbs, but considering my lack of experience prior to this position I am pleased with my growth.

My familiarity with the workings of the BLM has come mostly from my interactions and conversations with coworkers. While I was not a part of the processes that determine funding, land management, species, range, etc. decisions, my in depth conversations with various employees have allowed me to paint a more complete picture of how the BLM in governed, and the current projects throughout the district.

I was able to spend a week with the Environmental Site Inventory crew performing soil and vegetation surveys in southeastern Oregon. I was not only taught how to perform both of these surveys, but learned several indicator plant species and soils types for various major land resource areas (MLRAs). I enjoyed using the soils information, present vegetation, geography, geology, and climate to determine the MLRA, determining from there the pre-described or newly discovered ecological site, and finally rating the health of the ecosystem. It was like solving a puzzle; highly enjoyable.

I have also greatly strengthened my ArcGIS skills. After frequently using ArcMap to locate our field sites, and taking a Basics of ArcMap10.2 and Geoprocessing course, I feel highly more competent at preforming a variety of ArcGIS tasks. I created a map of all previous SOS collections sites for future uses. It was a great way to practice my knowledge, and believe it will be useful.

I have grown personally as much as I have professionally. I have learned a lot more about which aspects in a job I do and do not enjoy, where I can improve at work, the kind of location I thrive best within, and where certain aspects of my life fall on my list of priorities. There are also several truly good-hearted people I have met here. They are the reason my experience has been so rich. As ready as I am to move forward, it is sad to say goodbye.

I do not have another job lined up right now. I have been/am actively seeking work; just have not snagged anything quite yet. I have made quite a few contacts during my internship, whom have been extremely helpful. I do plan to apply for another CLM internship. I feel I can still benefit from another round. I would like to have a more research oriented internship/job next, with more statistically sound monitoring, where I can analyze our data in an effort to help make wise land management decisions. My plans right now consist of a week or more trip to Portland, where I’ll meet up with my sister, and then return to Vale to continue the job hunt and gather my belongings. If I do not have a job by the end of October, I will most likely move to the Denver area. I have been looking for work in this area, and hope that making the move will help. I’m a bit nervous for what is next, but more excited than anything else.
Colleen Sullivan
Vale, OR BLM
colleen.sullivan781@gmail.com

Only about one more month left here in Vale, OR. Our days have mostly been spent monitoring plant populations for seed, collecting seed, and even still scouting for new sites. Most recently we found a few good rush and sedge populations. Surprise, surprise, eastern Oregon does have some riparian areas! Over half of our collections this year are from south eastern Oregon, near McDermitt NV, in the Oregon Canyon Mountains. Given how dry Malheur County has been, heading up in elevation was our best strategy. That has been a bulk of our duties right now, although I am looking forward to taking an online ArcGIS geoproccessing course tomorrow. I’m so glad we’re able to take advantage of such courses.

On a personal note, I just got back from 3 and a half days back home in Chicago. Much needed, and much enjoyed! The hunt for my next job is in full swing as well, although I do plan on applying for another round as a CLM intern too. That’s all for now, I’ll make my next and final post longer, and more interesting!

Colleen

Vale, OR BLM

This is blog number three, just finished my seventh week in Vale.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about conservation, its importance, and what it should look like in the face of climate change. I haven’t completely thought through all of these ideas, and am really just presenting a bunch of questions. Nor do I know how many people actually read this, but comments are appreciated.

The other week I went up to Washington to monitor a sensitive species that has only been found at this location. We spent a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of gas to get to the site every day that week. We also had to take a pretty dangerous road to and from the site each day, and were monitoring on some dangerously steep and slick hillsides. One we deemed too unsafe to complete the assessment. This all made me wonder just how worthwhile our efforts really were.

Is it really that important to monitor and conserve this particular species? While pondering this question I began to contemplate why conservation is important in general. This idea, the importance of conservation, or lack thereof, lies at the heart of what I’m doing here, at the heart of this program, and at the heart of my educational and career choices.

Conservation work does not always generate immediate success, results, or satisfaction. It tackles long-term problems and goals. This fact makes the work tough at times, but I’ve always told myself that the bigger picture, the long-term benefits of my work makes it all worth it. The knowledge that what I’m doing matters and is important has always been my fuel. But why does it matter? Why is conserving plant species important? Well, because each species is part of a complex ecosystem on which other organisms depend, on which other species depend, on which other ecosystems depend, on which we depend. Or maybe the answer is simply because other species are living things, and have their own right to continue to exist. These answers have generally sufficed my questioning mind. However, the more I think about the issue the less clear cut it becomes.

The natural world is always changing, always evolving. This is true even if our species hadn’t altered so many landscapes, or exacerbated global climate destabilization. I struggle with the idea of conserving something; a landscape, an ecosystem, or a species, in its natural state, since change is a constant and because the term “natural” is subjective. Species, landscapes, and ecosystems are evolving on geologic time scales. So who’s to say our definitions of “natural” and “native” are in fact natural and native? Is our own species not part of this “natural” environment? Taking these ideas into consideration, how beneficial is it truly to conserve a species in a location we’ve deemed “native”? On top of that, how beneficial, or important, or fruitful, are those efforts in the face of climate change? If the chance of long term survival is slim for the particular species we monitored in Washington, were our efforts a poor use of resources? What actions should scientists and conservationists be taking in the face of climate change? How do we decide which of those actions are most important, or the best use of our resources?

I’m not offering any answers here. Rather, I’m interested in what other people think about this topic. This is something I think about frequently, and don’t have great answers to, as few people I expect do. But they’re important ideas to discuss nonetheless. Please share your thoughts!

Colleen

Vale BLM

Washington site